Loch Lomand (Loch is a Gaelic word meaning lake) is a long, narrow lake just to the northwest of Glasgow. Sunday, we had not traveled far on the western shore of the lake when we found a lovely Inn in which to spend the night. We were tired and it was getting dark and we wanted to see Loch Lomand in the daylight when we were reasonably fresh. The road we traversed on Monday wound around the edges of the lake, giving us constant, spectacular views of the lush and majestic scenery. We stopped along the way when we saw a sign for the Falls of Falloch. The parking lot was just off of the road but was surrounded by dense foliage. A five minute walk brought us to the falls. The adjoining picture really does not do justice to what we saw. Loch Lomand is about 22 miles long so we spent almost a hour driving along the shore of the lake.
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| Falls of Falloch |
Leaving Loch Lomand, we drove into, or more accurately, up into the Scottish Highlands. The difference in scenery was stunning. The highlands is a region of rugged mountains barren of any but the most hearty of foliage. There were no trees, few roads and little sign of civilization except for the moderate traffic on the highway. And yet there was a beauty to this region that we can't really explain. Fort William was a large, by Scotland standards city situated on the western coast of Scotland where we stopped for a break. There was nothing particular important to report about Fort William other then it seemed to be a thriving community in the middle of nowhere.
Our destination for the day was Inverness, almost to the tip of central northern Scotland. Our route took us along the entire 23 mile length of Loch Ness. Like most of the lakes in this region, including Loch Lomand, the lake is long and narrow, probably no more then a quarter to a half mile wide. Loch Ness, of course, is infamous as the home of Nessie, the Loch Ness monster. It was in the early 1930's when someone produced a doctored picture supposedly showing the monster. Could this be the first example of a photoshopped picture? Over the years there have been many attempts to verify the existence of Nessie with no success. The first sighting was supposedly in the 6th century! The locals believe the legend of the monster came into being as the result of someone having too much to drink seeing a particularly large eel in the lake. Nevertheless, there is a thriving cottage industry surround this legend including a place called Nessieland. We waved as we drove by.
Our interest in Inverness was based on the Battle of Culloden that took place in 1746 about 5 miles outside of Inverness. Jilayne put us onto a television program on Straz network called "Outlander" based on a series of books by the same name. Hopefully some of you are familiar with this show. It is a fictionalized story of actual events that took place in the late 1600's and early 1700's in Scotland. A brief history lesson. During this time period the Stuarts sat on the English throne as King or Queen. At some point they were no longer able to produce an heir to the throne so the House of Hanover replaced the Stuarts on the throne. There was a major philosophical difference between the two houses. The Stuarts believed in the absolute soveirenty of the King in ruling England. The Hanovers favored a more balanced power between the King and Parliament. There were also religious overtones to this that we will not try to explain. One of the Stuarts, Prince Charles, known as "Bonnie Prince Charlie" was exiled in Paris but was determined to take what he thought was his rightful place on the throne. His supporters were known as Jacobites. The Jacobites were mostly Scottish. Bonnie Prince Charlie secreted himself into Scotland, organized the Jacobites into an army and began to march towards London. They got within a few days march of London when their commanders, except the prince, chickened out. The British came after them some time later and they met at Culloden. The hour long Battle of Culloden in April of 1746 proved to be the end of Jacobite uprising. The Culloden Battlefield is a Scottish National Trust site with an excellent visitors center explaining all the lead up to the Battle. The grounds around the visitors center where the battle actually took place is pretty much a large open field. However, excavations still occasionally turn up artifacts from the battle. Having been to Culloden we are now anxious to go home and rewatch the first several seasons of "Outlander" now that we have a better understanding of what was going on at the time.
Tuesday morning we were a bit lazy, taking our time getting started. We are on vacation after all. We did a bit of shopping in Inverness before hitting the road again. We drove southeast out of Inverness heading towards Dundee. This took us through the Highlands again which were even more foreboding because the weather was lousy; temperatures in the mid 40's, overcast with occasional rain showers, and 30 to 40 mile an hour winds. Our only company were the sheep we saw the whole way through the mountains.
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| Scottish Highlands |
At one point on the journey we stopped at an attraction called "the Watchers" which was nothing more then 5 semi-enclosed chair like structures where one could sit and look out on the bleak landscape. The wind was so fierce and bitterly cold that we quickly returned to the warmth of our car.
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| Lynda Watching |
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| The Watchers |
Our journey down and out of the Highlands took us by Balmoral Castle, one of the Queen's country homes. There are lovely pine forests surrounding the castle so we were unable to see it. But it is in a picturesque part of Scotland. We eventually arrived in Dundee on the eastern coast. Our reason for visiting was to go to the recently opened Victoria and Albert Museum of Design. Before leaving home we had made the decision to not book any accomodations except for when Jeff and family arrived. We figured we would have no trouble finding places to stay and we did not want to be locked into being at a certain place at a certain time. This plan didn't work out too well. It did not help that we had no guide books with us that listed accomodations, plus we were unable to access the internet on our phones. Unable to find anything to our satisfaction in Dundee we drove on to St. Andrews, the next stop on our itinerary. (Anybody surprised?) We figured we had a better chance of finding someplace to stay in St. Andrews and it was only 13 miles back to Dundee to see the V&A museum. This plan worked.
Wednesday morning, Tim was up early and went into St. Andrews hoping to be able to join up with a twosome or threesome to play golf at the Old Course, considered the birthplace of golf, as well as one of the great golf courses in the entire world. Unfortunately, at 7:30 he would have been 18th on the waiting list. The starter recommended that Thursday would probably be a better day to get on the course. With no golf for Tim, we spent the morning exploring St. Andrews, seeing the ruins of the old Cathedral, walking about the University of St. Andrews and window shopping in the interesting mix of shops in the town.
In the afternoon we drove to Dundee to visit the Dundee V&A. The Victoria and Albert Museum in London is one of the great museums in the world. The building design is spectacular and very contemporary. It is a three story tall building that is shaped much like a large boat. The interior when you first walk in is open from the ground floor to the roof. It too is awe inspiring. Unfortunately, the building may be of more interest then the exhibits. There were only two exhibit halls, both on the third level. One that we think is a permanent exhibit features Scottish design through the years. Hence the name of the museum. The displays featured design from a wide range of products, from fashion to the arts and industry. It was an interesting exhibit. There was also a temporary exhibit about the history of the design of cruise ships. This exhibit required a ticket. We decided not to visit this exhibit. The last order of the day was very mundane. We found a laundromat so that we would continue to have clean under garments to wear.
As we are finishing this post it is Thursday morning. Tim has just returned from another unsuccessful attempt to get on the Old Course. The plan now is to check out of our hotel and drive around Edinburgh, heading east to a village called Gullane where Tim knows of a course that is highly thought of that might be easier to get on. We will keep you posted.
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